Outspoken UK military thinker at WWI conference

One of
Britain’s most respected military advisors, who recently
criticised the British and United States government’s
strategy in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria, will share his
views on the First World War in an international conference
here in August.

Sir Hew Strachan – Chichele Professor
of the History of War at Oxford University who has advised
the Coalition on its treatment of the Armed Forces and
currently sits on the Chief of the Defence Staff’s
Strategic Advisory Panel – is among a battalion of
military and war historians and researchers who will gather
at Massey University’s Wellington campus for The
Experience of a Lifetime – People, Personalities and
Leaders in the First World War conference from August
22-24.

Sir Hew, whose presentation is titled
‘Military Operations and National Policies 1914-1918',
wrote in a Guardian newspaper column last year that
World War I commemorations should be more about education
than remembrance following reports that six out of ten Brits
said they didn’t understand what the war was about. He
also stressed the need for Britain to coordinate its
commemorative efforts more closely with its Commonwealth
partners.

He has published a number of books on the First
World War, including; The First World War: Volume 1: To
Arms (Oxford, 2001; The First World War: A New
Illustrated History (Simon & Schuster, 2003); The
First World War (Viking, 2004); and The First World
War in Africa (Oxford, 2004).

The conference is part
of the Centenary History of New Zealand and the First World
War project to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the
First World War. It is a joint venture with Massey, the
Ministry for Culture and Heritage, the New Zealand Defence
Force and the Royal New Zealand Returned and Services’
Association.

Diverse topics covered in the three-day
event include portrayals of key military leaders and their
strategies; first hand accounts of soldiers’ experiences;
the role of nurses; the place of Indian and Fijian soldiers;
and the plight of veterans in the post-war period.

Other
speakers include well-known military historian and Massey
University Professor of War Studies Glyn Harper, who will
explore the experiences of Kiwi soldiers in his presentation
titled Johnny Enzed: the New Zealand soldier at war.
He will discuss his research for a new book on what the
soldiers saw, where they slept, what they ate and what they
felt through the use of more than 2000 letters and diaries,
most of which have not been accessed before.

Professor
Harper, who is part of the conference organisation, says
“the First World War shaped our country – it gave us the
sense of ourselves as New Zealanders, as an independent
nation, and forged our place in the world. While it
separated us physically, the war brought us together
emotionally, and strengthened the bond with Australia that
has continued down the generations.”

He says the
conference will bring together a wide range of speakers who
will talk on many different aspects of the war. “This
conference demonstrates the great diversity of New
Zealand’s war experience as well as revealing how
important it [the war] was to the nation as a
whole.”

The conference is open to the general public,
and Professor Harper says the event will be of particular
interest to history teachers seeking new material and
insights.

Also speaking: • Professor Michael
Neiberg, Professor of History, Department of National
Security Studies at the US Army War College, Carlisle –
If you are in favour of the Kaiser, Keep it to Yourself:
American Reactions to the European War,
1914• Professor Peter Stanley, Research Professor,
Australian Centre for the Study of Armed Conflict and
Society – Other People’s Wars: British Empire
Soldiers 1914-15• Dr Gavin McLean, Senior
Historian, Heritage Services, Ministry for Culture and
Heritage – The Great Helmsmen: New Zealand’s Shipping
Leaders at War• Dr Mesut Uyar, Associate Professor
of Ottoman Military History, Australian Centre for the Study
of Armed Conflict and Society- ‘Esat Pasha on 25 April
1915: Ottoman Corps in Crisis’• Dr Katie
Pickles, Associate Professor of History, University of
Canterbury – Edith Cavell: Famous nurse of the First
World War• Megan Wells, Curator of Social History
and Accoutrements, National Army Museum – Trench art
and souveniring: Examining Soldiers’ Experiences through
the Material Archive at the National Army Museum

The
conference runs from August 22-24, in the Old Museum
Building, Massey University, Wellington. Registration
for the three-day event is $250 ($200 for students). For
more information click here.

Sir Hew Strachan will also be
speaking at the following venues:• Wellington at Te
Papa Museum (25 August) – Commemoration or Celebration?
How should we approach the centenary of the First World
War?• Palmerston North at Te Manawa Museum (27
August) – Ideas of War: 1914• Auckland at the
Auckland War Memorial Museum (29 August) – The First
World War: 100 Years
On

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